Growing Tomatoes – The Basics
Tomatoes are the prime candidates for planting when you have made the choice to start an outdoor vegetable garden. Planting and growing your own tomato plants is not difficult and the rewards of being able to eat fresh, organic tomatoes are immeasurable.
Astoundingly there are over 7,500 thousand varieties of tomato from which to choose. You may choose a smaller tomato such as Cherry tomatoes, purely for their taste, or you might choose the larger Beefsteak tomato, well suited to salads or making your own sauces. Whatever your choice, you can be sure of enjoying enough tomatoes to go around come harvest time, given the ease of growing your own tomato plants.
To thrive in an outdoor garden, tomato plants require warm weather because, as a general rule, they cannot withstand frost. The ideal growing temperature is between 19-29 degrees Celsius (65 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day and no cooler the 15 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit) during the night. In the northern hemisphere, the ideal growing period for tomatoes is around May to June.
When it comes to planting outdoors, tomato plants should not be planted closely together. Their roots fill out below the soil and neccesitate plenty of room. Moreover, plants that grow too close together often share disease and pests. dense planting could also inhibit the growth of the fruit by becoming shaded by the leaves of surrounding plants that are too close together.
Tomato plants should ideally be placed between 30-60cm (between 12 and 24 inches) apart depending on the variety. Those types of tomato plants that must be grown on a trellis should be situated further apart than the smaller varieties. Trellises or cages for the larger tomato plant varieties, offer support for the vine, holding the fruit off the ground, preventing them from rotting and reducing the crop size.
All tomato plants enjoy sunlight and should receive at least 6 to 8 hours a day for maximum healthy growth. Tomatoes need to be watered on a regular basis and prefer soil that is moist and well aerated. Removing non-fruit bearing branchs during the pruning procedure can improve the harvest. You should also trim leaves that obstruct access to sunlight but be heedful not to trim too many leaves as they provide the sugars that assist in the flavour process. Removing the suckers that grow in the joint of the branches will increase the energy available to the fruits of the plant.
Growing tomato plants outdoors is straight forward to do yet extremely rewarding as they are a hardy plant, well suited to growing by even an unseasoned vegetable gardener. Once you have eaten your maiden home grown tomato, you will unlikely want to purchase them fruit from the store ever again.!
